The Turkish Central Bank reduced interest rates for the 11th consecutive month in an effort to revive the economy.

A further quarter percent was knocked off the base deposit rate on Thursday bringing the interest rate to an all time low of 6.5 percent.

The bank has cut rates by 9.75 percent in the last 12 months leading some economists to suggest that the central bank may be ‘over doing it’ because international investors in the Turkish Lira are cautious and real interest rates are very low.

Savers Hit

The latest cut will come as more bad news for people relying on interest to support their income.

After tax of 15% is deducted by the government from the rate of 6.5 percent savers will receive just 5.52 percent interest per year.

But after inflation of 5.08 percent is taken into account the real return will be only 0.44 percent.

Retail savers should be able to get slightly better than the base rates from their own banks.

Lira Stable

The Turkish Lira stood at 2.48 TL to the GBP at 15:30 on Thursday but 2.47 TL to the GBP on Friday at the same time.